Teens spend month in the Andes helping children at orphanage

FAST FRIENDS- Amber Tormey enjoys a group hug with some new friends at an orphanage in the Andes of Peru. Amber and her boyfriend Tim Martinez spent the summer working with the children through the nonprofit group United Planet. While teenagers often fill the lazy days of summer with beach trips, movie nights and hanging out with friends, a 17-year-old Oak Park student helped make the lives of orphaned children a little brighter.

Amber Tormey and her boyfriend, Tim Martinez, a former Oak Park student who is starting his freshman year at Boston University, joined the nonprofit group United Planet, and spent a summer month 12,000 feet high in the Andes, working at an orphanage and school in Peru.

United Planet offers students the opportunity to promote world peace through education while learning about other cultures.

The organization attracts students from all over the world, including many premed students.

"I met people from Russia, Tibet, Holland, Germany, Britain, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland- and a lot of Californians," Amber said. "I was the youngest person there."

SMILES ALL AROUND- Tim Martinez carries a local child during his stay in Peru. Many of the children at Remar live at the school full time, but some go home to their parents on weekends. Amber and Tim, 18, stayed with a host family in Peru and traveled to the school each day by bus. When they arrived at the school, Remar, they were assigned a painting project.

"We painted animals on the walls," Amber said. "The kids' rooms were cracked and messy."

While the painting project was fun for Amber, a talented artist, she quickly turned her sights to working directly with the children.

"They really needed attention," Amber said of the 33 children, age 3 to 14. Many at Remar had been abandoned and lived at the school full time, although some went home to their parents on weekends.

Amber and the other volunteers helped the children with school work, and assisted their teachers with a variety of projects.

She quickly grew to love the Peruvian culture and the typical Peruvian greeting- a kiss on the cheek followed by a hug.

"It was very interesting seeing the difference between the children at the school and the host family's children," Amber said. Although she found the 6yearold boy and 3-year-old girl sweet, their affluent lifestyle sometimes made them cranky and dissatisfied.

Conversely, the children who had the least appeared to be the most content, Amber said. "They were really grateful," Amber said. "They didn't take anything for granted."

Gratitude was a lesson that hit home with Amber. "I appreciated more when we got home. I missed cereal. It was so weird being in a grocery store."

The month away from home also touched a deeper chord about the value of responsibility.

"I'm definitely able to handle a lot more responsibility," Amber said. Navigating the countryside on their own, Amber and Tim had to use ingenuity just to communicate. Amber had completed her third year of Spanish at Oak Park High, but the Spanish spoken in Peru was vastly different than the Spanish spoken in an Oak Park classroom.

For the most part, the trip was rewarding, but Tim's passport was stolen, and the trip to the police station in Cuzco was a bit stressful, Amber said.

During the final week of the trip, Amber and Tim traveled to even greater heights in the Andes, to the remote village of Cai Coy where cows, sheep and pigs were as numerous as the human residents. The couple helped students with English and afterschool activities at the local school.

Before heading home, they toured Machu Picchu at a fortuitous time. The sacred ancient ruins were chosen in July as one of the "new" Seven Wonders of the World. (Egypt's Pyramids of Giza are the only site still standing from the world's original list of "wonders.")

"There was a big celebration, it was really cool," Amber said.

"I am very proud of my daughter that she chose to be involved in such a worthwhile cause during her summer vacation from school," Amber's mother, Michelle Tormey, said. "She did a wonderful job and I know it was a great experience for her as well as for the children she helped."

Amber and Tim discovered United Planet online. "I wanted to do something cultural," Amber said. "Lots of people build houses in Costa Rica. I wanted to do something with kids."